Citations:batten

English citations of batten

					1851
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

(chiefly nautical) Chiefly followed by down: to fasten or secure (a hatch, opening, etc.) using battens (noun sense 2.2).
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Life-buoy”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 580:
  Nail down the lid; caulk the seams; pay over the same with pitch; batten them down tight, and hang it with the snap-spring over the ship's stern. Were ever such things done before with a coffin?